Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

The Mauryan Polity c7.s1.t2: Succession generally hereditary

The Mauryan Polity c7.s1.t2

Language
English

Succession generally hereditary

c7.s1.t2.1

Proceeding then on the assumption that the Arthaśāstra formed the manual or the code on which the Mauryas including Aśoka and Daśaratha based their administration we find the king hereditary, constitutional, and limited by a system of checks and balances. That it was hereditary no one will dispute. According to Strabo son succeeded father.³ Every one knows Bindusāra as the son of Candragupta and Aśoka, the grandson. The mere fact that a prince happened to be the son of his father did not procure him the throne. Pliny states that the king was chosen by people with thirty councillors.⁴ Besides the officials of the state, the commonalty of the people were also present on this great occasion, as well as the representatives of the Paura, Jānapada and other corporate institutions. This choice of the king by the people is an important democratic factor which one cannot easily argue away. The principle of common will was thus a factor reckoned with in the constitution of ancient Indian polity. Generally the eldest son succeeded, while other sons were sent out as provincial viceroys or posted in other superior stations. The legend contained in the *Pāṃsupradāna* section popularly known as *Aśokavadāna*¹ to the effect that Aśoka had to kill his near and dear including his brothers to get at the throne has been justly discredited. That the story extant in the Buddhist work is an imagination of the writer rather than an historical fact has been proved from one of the inscriptions where Aśoka is said to have bestowed special care and attention to the habitations of his brothers and sisters, to the harem, etc.² It is impossible to think of Aśoka devoid of family affection and brotherly goodwill.

c7.s1.t2.2

³ Ancient India as described in Classical Literature, p. 55.

c7.s1.t2.3

⁴ Ancient India in Classical Literature, Sec. V.

c7.s1.t2.4

¹ See *Divyāvadāna*, XXVI.

c7.s1.t2.5

² *Corpus*, p. 155; Pillar Edict VI.

c7.s1.t2.6

Though the succession was generally hereditary, one could not style himself Rāja or Mahārāja until he went through the time-honoured ceremony of *Abhiṣecanīya*. This was the anointing of the prince by the Purohita and other higher officers of the state. This institution is an ancient Vedic institution and is described in detail in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*. It was an important occasion of feast and festivity. There was an age limit to this anointing ceremony³ and if the tradition that Aśoka was crowned four years after his accession to the throne has any meaning, it is that Aśoka had only a formal vesting of regal powers at his father's death and that he had the legal *abhiṣeka* in his twenty-fifth year.⁴

c7.s1.t2.7

³ See Jayaswal, *Hindu Polity*, II, pp. 52-3. According to the inscription of Khāravela the completion of the 24th year is the age for coronation.

c7.s1.t2.8

⁴ See *J.B.O.R.S.*, Vol. I, p. 93, and Vol. III, p. 438.

Linked texts (5)